It Had to be You
by AlanieSanar
Summary: Sakura and Kakashi had fallen out of touch, but a series of events bring them back together. Maybe this is a second chance at friendship ...or something more. KakaSaku! New chapter up, enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own none of the chracter within this story and make no money off of them. So leave me alone.

It Had To Be You

Chp.1

He sat on the roof staring out over the town. His posture was relaxed, one hand supporting him the other arm settled on his raised knee. Who knows how long he had been there, watching the town slow down for the night in front of him? Even he didn't really know. Several times during his silent reverie, he had berated himself for wallowing in these damn feelings that would crop up during these periods of time when missions were lacking.

His mind had been flashing over past events; Obito, the Sasuke incident, his family (or lack there of) and whatever felt like racking his brain at the moment. He decided to stop wallowing and head for the bar. Maybe someone he knew would be there and help him get his mind onto other things. He stood, ran a hand through his silver hair and brushed himself off. He leapt off the roof to an adjoining one and began bounding from rooftop to rooftop, making his way to the usual spot.

Kakashi brushed the short curtain aside as he stepped inside the bar. It was a lot louder than he expected. _Oh…it's Saturday, isn't it? The kids are gonna be here dancing… Hence the loud music._ He stopped and had second thoughts about having a drink when he heard, "Oi! Kakashi! Over here!" He turned his head to see Asuma, Kurenai, Anko and Genma in a booth to his left. He lifted a hand in greeting as he sauntered his way over.

He could immediately tell that Genma swiftly on his way to being hammered. Asuma and Kurenai we more reserved when it came to partying.

Genma wrapped and arm around Kakashi's neck in a light choke hold, "So! I was thinkin' we should head over to those dancing beauties over there and work some magic, huh?"

Kakashi sighed and turned his head to look at the mass of young adults dancing together, "You're asking me to go over there and do what they're doing? " He laughed, "I thought you knew me."

Genma snorted, "God _damn_, you can be a buzz-kill sometimes."

Anko with a look of frustration, "I think I can fix that, Hehe." Kakashi raised and eye brow at her. She reached into her side pouch and pulled out a book with a familiar orange cover. Kakashi's eye widened and his jaw went slack.

"That's not even supposed to be out yet! How did you GET that?" he said with an uncommon amount of surprise and strain in his voice. He was looking and the long anticipated next volume of Icha Icha Special.

Anko smiled, "That's not what's really important is it? What's really important is how are YOU going to get it?"

Kakashi suddenly felt nervous, "Oh? And how am I going to get it?"

Anko's smile got a little more devious, "Beat me in a drinking contest."

Kakashi knew immediately what she was after. That was a bad habit of Anko's; trying to unravel the enigma that was Kakashi by using alcohol. Anko was definitely no lightweight when is came to drinking, even less so when it came to competition. If he was going to that lovely book in her hand, he was going to be really drunk at the end of the night. And only the five people sitting the booth knew what Kakashi was like when he got really drunk. He had left a few places trashed and more young women slightly traumatized.

Asuma, Kurenai and Genma had all stopped and were staring at the two high class ninja staring each other down next to them. They're thoughts were all along the same wavelength; _Oh God, she's trying to get him drunk AGAIN._

Kakashi straightened in his seat and locked eyes with Anko, "Fine. I accept your challenge."

The three shook they're heads, _Leave it his obsession with those books to give Anko her chance. _Anko turned to face the bar, "Oi! Barkeep! We'll need a nice long row of vodka shots here, nice straight vodka!" She turned back to Kakashi "Okay, the rules are this, we slam them down at the same time and we keep going until someone forfeits, vomits or passes out. Who ever lasts longest wins and keeps the book, agreed?"

"Agreed."

She was really enjoying the night. This had been her first break in a long time and she was going to make sure she enjoyed it. Ino had been annoying her about letting lose and Sakura had finally given in. She was tired of being the wet blanket and here she was, in a bar, in a very short skirt, swaying her hips to music, not caring whose eyes locked onto her moving body.

Ino got her attention, "Look at you! Looks like I've got some competition." Ino winked at her.

Sakura smacked her lightly on the arm with a smile.

Kakashi stared at Anko and reached for the first shot. Anko followed suit, "Ready… START!" Kakashi downed the shot in one go. He slammed the shot glass down and noticed Anko was finished as welll. They grabbed and the next one and did the same. Kakshi didn't normally get drunk, but he really wanted that book. So he kept going.

2…3…4…5…

Kakashi's head began to swim ever so slightly. _Damn this going fast. I really hope nothing goes wrong. _He downed the next one. And the next. He looked at Anko. As far as he could tell she was doing just fine from the smile on her face. He frowned.

"Need to slow down, Hm?" Anko laughed.

"No. You?" She frowned, and they continued.

6…7…..7...6… wait what were we on?

Kakshi's head was more than swimming then. He could feel his muscles relaxing and he felt the drinks taking effect. He looked at Asuma and Kurenai. He saw that they had concerned looks on their faces. He found this… amusing. He snorted in laughter.

Asuma and Kurenai saw this and looked at each other. _This could be bad._ They nodded at each other. Asuma spoke up, "Hey guys, we're not especially interested in watching you two make fools out of yourselves, so were heading out." With that, the pair left the group to their own devices.

Sakura found the stairs that went down to the level with rest rooms. It was kind of dark, but she found her way to the right door. She had come down here to get away from the stifling heat of the dance floor, fix her make up and recover from the startling ass grope she had received a few moments before. She walked into a stall locked it, and sat down.

"Damn it… maybe I'm not made of for clubbing after all," she was still a little mad from the encounter. She was still really uncomfortable with guys touching her anywhere in the pelvis or chest region. _Only invited guests, thank you very much! _She sighed and looked at her clothes, _Well, can't really blame the guy; I look like I was inviting it. I guess it was kind of dumb to think they would just look. GOD, why did I let Ino dress me like this? I don't look like me at all. _She had decked the guy after she had hesitantly let him dance with her. _He seemed nice_. However, he then proceeded to grope her and say in her ear something that made her blush to an almost shade of purple.

She leaned back and sighed. _I was just starting to have fun too._

A little later, Kakashi pulled the orange book from Anko's flaccid fingers and sniggered. She had passed out and Kakashi felt like he wasn't far from it himself. What was worse, though, was that his stomach was not happy with him. It had been along time since he had gotten this drunk. He stood and wobbled a little, steadying himself on the table, "Genma, make sure she gets home alright, 'kay?" He pulled out what looked like enough money to cover his share and threw it down on the table.

Kakashi slowly made his way to the door, but half way he felt the beginnings of what would surely be vomiting session. He changed course and moved through the bar towards the bathrooms as fast as his inebriated body would let him forcing his way through the crowd. He stumbled down the staisr and crashed through the first door he found. He dashed across he room to the stall and threw himself over the toilet, and pulled his mask down just as the vile stuff finally came up.

After his stomach was finally done purging itself, he sat slumped against the wall of the stall for a moment, "Uggh," _Glad that's over. Some Kakashi the Great Copy Ninja I am, sitting on the floor of a dirty bar bathroom feeling sick._

He stood and made his way to the sink and washed his face off and rinsed his mouth out to get rid of the taste. He looked up at his reflection in the mirror in front of him.

Sakura had jumped when she heard the door to bathroom crash open. She heard the person run to a stall and start puking. _Oh gross! I hate that sound!_ She sat there listening to the poor slob until it stopped. She was about to get up and offer to help them when she heard a decidedly male sounding, "Uggh." She froze. _What's a guy doing in here?_ She heard him groan and walk towards the sinks. She heard him wash himself off, then… nothing. _Why isn't he leaving?_ Not wanting to run into a guy on her way out of the girl's bathroom, especially a drunk guy, she waited for him to leave.

After a long drawn out silence, Sakura heard the guy say something to himself, "God damnit…" _Wait… that voice sounds familiar. _She thought for moment, then, very carefully and silently got down to the floor and looked under the wall of the stall to look at the man.

She could only see from his shoulders down, but he had his hands on either side of the sink leaning on it, and from what she could tell, he was just standing there. He was wearing a Shinobi uniform. _Maybe I know him_, she thought. Sakura craned her neck further to look at his head, too. She saw a full shock of silver hair. _Kakashi-sensei?_ He was just standing there, staring straight ahead. _What the hell?_

Then she looked at his reflection. Sakura's eyes widened. Kakashi's mask was hanging around his neck… leaving his face completely uncovered. _Holy crap!_

Sakura took a couple moments to stare. He was good looking, but the scar and the mismatched eyes definitely added to the overall level of attractiveness, sort of the 'I-know-he-can-kill-me-so-he's-hot" sort of thing. For some reason though, she wasn't as excited about finally seeing his face as she thought she would be. However, she might have thought he looked even better if his face wasn't contorted into the angry grimace she saw now. He was giving his own reflection some sort of death glare. His brow was furrowed and his jaw clenched. Sakura had only seen this expression when he was facing down someone who had really done some evil and deserved to die.

Sakura decided to just wait for Kakashi to leave before coming out; he obviously didn't know she was there. She sat up on the toilet again and waited. She nearly jumped out of her skin a few moments later when she heard a loud crash and glass falling to floor. _What the..?_ She scrambled to look at him again. The mirror over the sink was in pieces and tinkling to the floor. Then she heard dripping. She changed her focus and saw blood dripping to floor next to Kakashi. _His hand… he punched out the mirror?_ His feet turned and she could see him walking to the door.

She panicked. He was hurt and her instincts took over. She wasn't even sure what she was going to say. She just burst through the door of the stall to stop him.

He jumped when someone jumped out at him from one of the stalls. He was about subdue them when he saw the pink hair. _Sakura?_ She ran up to him and grabbed his hand. He was still very inebriated, but thankfully he had remembered to pull his mask up. Probably because his face almost felt strange without it. He looked down and saw his hand was mangled. _Oh… the mirror._ There was glass sticking out of his hand, and blood was dripping all over the place. He flinched as she tried to grab one of the shards; he pulled his hand away, "Don't worry 'bout it." He tried to walk away.

She grabbed him again, "Kakashi-sensei! It'll get infected if you don't do something!" She started to pull him to the door, "Here, I'll fix it for you." He followed behind her for a few moments, when they reached the stairs leading back up to the bar, he stopped.

"Where we goin'?"

"Um…" She thought for moment. He was obviously hammered, Sakura could smell it on him. She needed to make sure he got home alright, "Okay, we'll go to your place. That way you can just go to sleep after I patch you up."

Kakashi tried to think about this. _Sakura…my hand…injured…SLEEP! _Normally, Kakashi didn't like people coming over, but his brain was fuzzy and he was very tired. Sleep sounded good. He didn't want to walk, so he decided to use the transport jutsu.

He pulled on Sakura's hand and as her body bumped into his, she squeaked in surprise. He chuckled inwardly. _Cute._ They disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sakura had been slightly startled when she has been pulled into him, but when they reappeared outside Kakashi's apartment door; she realized why he had done it. Kakashi let go of her and started rummaging through his pockets. He found his keys, opened the door and walked in leaving the door open for her to follow.

Kakashi kicked his shoes off and went to flop down on his bed. He was lying there for a moment enjoying the softness of his blankets when Sakura came over and ruined it by pulling him upright, "Kakashi-sensei! You're getting blood everywhere!"

"Mm? Oh…"

"Here, hold your hand up here like this. Is there a first aid kit here?"

"Oh… um, yeah," He pointed to a closet on the other side of the room, "There."

"Okay, keep holding your hand up," Sakura moved to the closet and opened the sliding door. The closet was slightly disheveled, but she started rummaging through it anyway. Clothes, old volumes of Icha Icha, scrolls of various jutsus, an old pair of shoes, then she found it, "Ta-da!" She turned around and found Kakashi lying down again, "Kakashi!"

Kakashi grumbled, "What? The hand's still up." And indeed, it was. "Fine, just don't go sleep or I'll be forced to use violence on you." She climbed up onto the bed with him. He was vaguely aware of this, he took a moment to ponder the fact that he was alone with his female former student in his apartment on his bed. _Hm._ He pushed the thought away, "You'll have to keep me awake. I'm not sure how long I'm gonna last here."

_What? _"...How?"

"I dunno, talk to me."

She pinched the first piece of glass in the tweezers and pulled. His brow twitched but otherwise, he showed no response to the pain, so she kept picking the glass out from between his knuckles, "About what?"

"I dunno, you're smart."

"Well...okay. Um..." _Everything I want to know about him seems to be on the taboo list._ She poked him when his eye closed, "So, can I ask you about anything?"

"...Depends on what the anything is."

"Okay, well, how about your Genin team?" She said as she picked up the picture near the head of the bed.

He hesitated before answering, "...What 'bout them?"

"What were they like?" She pulled out the last piece of glass.

"They were annoying...at first. I got used to them. We worked well together in battle after a while. But..."

She continued to work on cleaning the cuts on his hand, "But?"

He shifted uncomfortably, "I messed up. It was ruined."

She looked at him. His head was turned away from her. She could see the tension that the subject was causing him so she decided not to pursue it; if he wanted to tell her, he would. So she asked, "So, what were _they_ like? Your teammates, I mean."

He turned back to look at her. She was rubbing a cotton ball of antiseptic over a cut. He took a moment to absorb the sight. She looked... at home, like she was doing what she was supposed to. He thought that despite her volatile nature, she was always calming and nurturing when the situation called for it. He was glad that she had kept that trait over the years. However, he was also glad that she hadn't pushed him into that story, "Obito was... loud, kinda flaky. Rin...was smart, a medic, she acted like one – taking care of people all the time." _Kinda like you..._

She laughed softly, "Okay... Well, I'm almost done." She was wrapping bandages around the abused skin, "Still feeling sick?"

He shook his head, "Nah. Just… sleepy." He yawned beneath the mask and stretched a little.

"Oi, oi, no sleep yet," She said lightly while poking him again. She was enjoying the atmosphere between the two, relaxed and familiar. She was glad there wasn't much of awkwardness. It had been a while since she had actually talked to Kakashi, almost six months actually, and that had been because he had come in to the hospital injured after a particularly rough mission. He had stayed one night and then quickly checked out. He had always hated staying in the hospital. All the information she had been able to get out of him in the short time had been inconsequential small talk.

That's the way it had been for the past few years. After they had successfully retrieved Sasuke, Team Kakashi had been in a strange place. Sasuke had been under close ANBU watch for a few months, and then he had to deal with lots of restrictions on what kind of missions and other work he could do. Also, after having Yamato as team leader for so long, Kakashi had felt that he had sort of lost his place on the team. Adding on to that, Sakura had decided to work part time at the hospital, leaving little to no time for team missions. Team Kakashi was almost non-existent.

Sakura missed the camaraderie, the practical jokes, Kakashi reading his damn books, Naruto being way too loud at all hours of the night and so on. She was glad that she had a little piece of Team 7 with her now. _This is nice; I really should make more of an effort to keep in contact with him. It's obvious he's not going to._

"Okay! All done," She closed the first aid kit. Kakashi lazily looked at her handiwork then closed his eyes. Sakura crawled off the bed and out the kit back where she found it. When she turned around she found Kakashi asleep and snoring lightly.

She sighed and went to the man, crawled up next to him and removed his forehead protector. She placed her hands on his forehead and channeled chakra to perform a technique she had learned to remedy hangovers. With Tsunade as her shishou, she had learned it early on if she wanted her teacher to be pleasant in the mornings.

Sakura then removed Kakashi's shoes, leg wraps, and kunai holster. She debated for a moment and then decided the he would probably appreciate it if she helped with the upper half too. She had dealt with drunks at the hospital before and knew that Kakashi was too out of it to object to anything right now. She grabbed him and pulled him up while she fumbled to pull his vest off. She divested him of it then grabbed his outer shirt while she leaned him against her self, his head resting on his shoulder. While she was removing it, she heard him mumble something.

"What was that?"

"…Said you smell good."

She blushed as she realized that they were now in more physical contact with each other than she they had ever been before, she was undressing him and they were on his bed. _Holy crap…never thought I'd find myself in this situation. Why the hell is he smelling me?_

She shook her head and rid herself of embarrassment, "Um…Thanks."

Kakashi was now in just his pants and the form fitting sleeveless shirt that continued upwards to become his mask. Sakura adjusted herself as she pulled back the covers of Kakashi's bed and laid him down. She moved off the bed and pulled the covers over him. She looked up to his masked face and perceived a content expression.

Then, she thought back to the way his face had been contorted in anger at his own reflection earlier. _What about his own face could make him hate it that much?_ She traced a finger over his hand. _Maybe he'll trust me enough to tell me someday…._ She giggled. _Hey, he may end up being my friend after this, that's a start._

Sakura looked at him for a couple moments more, and then bent forward over his head. "Goodnight Kakashi. Sweet dreams," She whispered then gave him a kiss on the forehead. She turned and left his apartment in search of a good night's rest.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update. Personal problems and all that. But still, I can only produce as fast as I come up with ideas, so there. sticks tongue out Also, I don't have a beta, so if you think something's weird, or you catch spelling probs, go ahead and tell me in the reviews. That's what they're there for.

Disclaimer: Not my characters. Don't yell at me.

Chapter 2

Kakashi slowly lifted his eyelids. Sunlight was streaming in between the blinds and had illuminated most of the room. His head felt it was filled with cotton balls. Strange. To determine exactly how he had gotten here he started replaying the night in his head.

_Okay, got to the bar. Anko had the book. We had the drinking game. I…Won! _He smirked._ Then...Oh, right, the vomiting. I remember that. _He grimaced._ Then…_ The images of his face in the mirror and his fist connecting with the glass flashed through his head. _Oh yeah…_

Then the pink haired girl flashed through his mind. _Sakura._ He then remembered her coming home with him, taking care of his hand and then things got really fuzzy. _What happened after that?_

Kakashi sat up. _Wait…where's the hangover? Wait-Wow… my head feels like it's floating or something, but there's no pain._ _And where's my shoes and gear?_ He looked around and saw his gear and shoes in a pile across the room. _Oh wow. She really did take care of me, didn't she? _He ran a hand through his hair._ She must've done some jutsu to get rid of the hangover too… Damn…She didn't have to do all this. _

He threw the blankets off and stood. He stretched, hearing a few pops in his spine. His thoughts continued to come as he padded to the bathroom to start his morning routine. _This why I don't get drunk that often. I end up doing stupid shit, vomiting, and saying all kinds of..._ His head shot up under the hot water of the shower. _Shit! What did I say to her? _He wracked his brain as he finished his shower and dried his hair. _Goddamnit, I can't remember. Ah, god...She saw me punch the mirror too. _He pulled on some pants and his mask and wandered towards the fridge._ Note to self: getting drunk and embarrassing yourself in front of your students is not worth any Icha Icha book. _He Stiffened.

_The book! _He began to frantically search his apartment for his precious spoils from the night before. He found it kicked under his bed and relaxed. He made his way to the couch to settle in for some reading. _I'm probably going to have to apologize or thank her or something later. _He lay down on the couch, shifting into a good position, lifted his book to his eyes and-.

Sakura had been at the hospital for two hours. She was already getting tired and she had six more hours to go. She had been wondering about Kakashi, worrying that the jutsu hadn't worked or that he had messed up his bandages somehow. So, she decided to take lunch early and stop by his apartment to check on him.

She now stood in front of his door waiting for some sort response to her knock. For a moment, she thought he wasn't home then, from the other side of the door she heard him.

"Who's that?"

"It's Sakura." She heard a sigh from the other side, then a lock clicking and the door swung open. She was met with an eyeful of shirtless Kakashi.

She paused and took in the sight. _Not bad._

"Want me to flex?"

Sakura looked up at his face then, his eyebrows were raised, waiting for a response, a hint of amusement detectable somewhere on his face. She realized she had been staring and a blush began creeping its way onto her face. She tried to laugh it off.

"Oh yeah, Kakashi-sensei, strut it. I love a little peep show in the morning," she said with sarcasm and a wave of the hand. However his face didn't change, except the hint of amusement was now gone. She began feeling embarrassment and dread set in. _He didn't think I was serious, did he?_ She almost sighed in relief then, when he smiled, "Sorry, the show's only for paying customers."

He then turned around and walked back into the apartment leaving the door open. Sakura assumed that this meant she was invited in. She stepped inside, kicked off her shoes and followed Kakashi.

Kakashi lay down on the couch and picked up his book. She felt a pang of annoyance and nostalgia at the site of him reading those damn books. Her thoughts quickly flashed back to the beginning of Team 7 before Sasuke had pulled "The Stunt" as Naruto liked to call it. She shook her head free of the thoughts and sat down next to his legs on the couch.

"Still read those things, huh?"

"Yup."

"I still don't understand it. They're basically just written porn right? That's not exactly intellectually stimulating."

Kakashi put his book down on his chest and looked at her, "Sakura, are you here to criticize my reading habits or is there a real reason for you to be here?"

"Oh yeah, I came to check on you. How's your head?"

He raised and eyebrow, "Well, weird, actually."

"What do you mean?"

"It feels all fuzzy and like it's floating or something, that's the best I can describe it."

"Oh, I must've over done it, "She leaned over Kakashi, her hand supporting her next to his head, the other reaching for his forehead. "I can fix that."

Kakashi suddenly became almost hyper-aware of Sakura. She was close to him. Very close. Apparently Sakura wasn't aware of the personal space rule with Kakashi had.

"Um…Sakura?"

"Hm?"

"Let me up."

Sakura shifted her focus from Kakashi's forehead to his face then, and realized their proximity and the fact that they were horizontal on his couch, not to mention the fact that he had no shirt on. She 'meeped' and sat back up.

"Sorry!"

He chuckled as he sat up, "It's okay, you just caught me off guard." He reached out and grabbed her wrist and put her hand back on his forehead. "Finish the job."

"Sure."

"So, um…Thanks for getting me home last night."

"No problem."

"And patching up my hand."

"Yeah, sure.

"And… putting me to bed."

"Um…yeah."

"And… checking on me today."

Sakura pulled her hand off his forehead then, "Kakashi-sensei, are you okay?" He seemed uncomfortable.

"What? I'm fine."

"Well, don't worry about this, okay? You helped me out countless times when I was training, this is the least I could do."

"Mm."

"I'm serious, don't worry about it."

"Right."

She decided to drop it. Though, an idea occurred to her, "You know, I think this is the longest conversation we've ever had outside of training."

He looked up at her then and thought for a moment, "I do believe you're right."

They sat there for moment thinking about the past and how things had changed. Kakashi chuckled and stood up, walking away, "We'll have to work on that, won't we?"

Sakura smiled at that. She always appreciated having more friends. She knew basic stuff about Kakashi; name, age, rank, but not much more. She had always been curious and it seemed like he was willing to at least talk to her more. She grinned.

In the bedroom, Kakashi was standing staring at his open dresser drawer. This hadn't exactly gone as he had planned it. He needed to find out what he had revealed to her the night before and make sure that his dignity was still safe. Also, he needed to somehow convey to her that this needed to be kept a secret without implying she was untrustworthy and pissing her off. He remembered the beatings Naruto got when they were younger at the hands of the pink haired one. He grabbed a shirt and pulled it on and walked back into the living room.

"So, I hope I didn't do anything to make a complete ass of myself," he said, hoping for some information.

Sakura was standing by the window now, looking out. She wasn't surprised he didn't remember. She smiled pleasantly and turned back towards him, "Nothing too bad, you just groped me a couple times and threw up on my shoes."

Kakashi paled for just a moment, and then realized she was kidding. "Very funny,"

He said as his brow furrowed ever so slightly.

She giggled and said, "Sorry, I couldn't resist." She came back and sat on the couch again, "Seriously, though, you were fine. I patched you up, we talked a bit…I took off your gear (which was a little awkward) and you went to sleep." She picked at her nails.

He sat down on the arm of the couch and thought for a moment. He couldn't think of any other way to do it, so he decided to be direct, "What did we talk about?"

"Well…not much. You told me a bit about your genin team. But you were really sleepy, so it was hard to get you to say much. **Like usual**." She decided to not tell him about the comment he had made about her smell. That would just embarrass him.

He let out a barely perceptible sigh of relief, "Just making sure."

Sakura stood up then, "Well, I've got to get back. I have a ton of paperwork to do." She started moving towards the door, "I'll see you around, Kakashi-sensei!"

He stood up quickly then, and grabbed her wrist before she could get too far, "Sakura."

Her eyes were wide with confusion and she looked down at where he held her wrist. He quickly let go of it and cleared his throat. _Damnit, just say it._ He looked back to her and said, "Can you…Just not, tell anyone else about this? It's not exactly…" He couldn't think of anything that sounded right.

Sakura searched Kakashi's face and saw that he was definitely feeling out of place. He had seemed very put off by the idea that she had helped him. _He's always been the strong one. I guess this is new to him._ _Still…_

"What? Think I'm going to broadcast it across Konoha?" He just stared at her. "Fine, I'll hold you to what you said about talking more often!" she said as she waggled a finger at him.

He raised an eyebrow, "Alright."

Sakura smiled again and turned back towards the door, "See ya, Kakashi!" The door closed behind her quickly.

Surprise hit Kakashi's face as he realized that she had left off the 'sensei'.


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note: I own none of these characters, but the story idea is mine. So shush.

Also, sorry for taking so long. Little to no motivation. Also, this is really short. If anyone has ideas, suggestions or has noticed mistakes, please tell me.

------------------

Tsunade hated dealing with these kinds of mission requests. Pompous daimyos decide to hire famous ninjas just to look good, while there are much more important things said ninjas could be doing. This time, this particular pompous daimyo wanted the famous Copy ninja. Kakashi was a very valuable asset to village. He shouldn't be out being paraded around to show off this guy's wealth. However, there was shortage of missions recently, and the academy needed money for repairs and maintenance. Also, this Daimyo was well connected, so to being in his good graces could only help the village. So, Kakakshi was stuck.

The Daimyo was frail as well, and was rumored to be paranoid about it. So, he wanted the best, smartest, most well-trained med-ninja in all of fire country. That would be herself, the Godaime. Can't do that. _And Shizune is my right-hand girl. Can't send her._ That leaves, her apprentice, Sakura. Tsunade let out long exasperated sigh. Sakura would be plenty annoyed by this. Lately, she was more interested in furthering her research and training. Definitely won't be happy.

Kakashi had just recently finished his morning vigil at the memorial and was on his way back to jounin head quarters when a pigeon swooped down and almost collided with his nose. He side stepped the feathery projectile and snatched it out of the air as released an exasperated coo. "They really need to train these guys better," He said as he pulled the small scroll of paper off of the bird's leg. _Jounin Hatake, please retrieve Chuunin Haruno and report to the Hokage's office. _Specially getting requested for a mission usually meant it was extremely dangerous or a special client. Since Sakura was requested as well, it was probably the latter. He sighed heavily and changed direction towards Konoha Hospital.

Sakura was about to insert an IV in a patient when a nurse came in. "Sakura, you have a visitor."

"What?"

"There's some ninja out there, he said he _needs_ to see you," the nurse said with a giggle. "Boyfriend?"

Sakura frowned. "No."

"Well, maybe he's a little too old, anyway. But still, he's still in _very_ good shape. Mm."

"You're a perv."

"Maybe, but you should get going."

"Oh! Right. Can you finish this?"

The nurse walked over giving Sakura one last little smile. Sakura nodded her thanks and walked towards the waiting room. A hot ninja? There was actually a few that went through her mind, but none of them would have any reason to come see her, she wasn't going on missions any more. Maybe it was a secret admirer! She blushed at the thought of that, but quickly dismissed it with a shake of her head. She hadn't even met any new guys lately, let alone look good enough to attract one. Her social life had been waning despairingly. She looked up as she reached the waiting room and spotted a tuft of silver hair over the back of a chair. _ Kakashi-sensei? He's the hot ninja?_ The vision of him shirtless invaded her mind. _Oh, well I guess she was right. _ She blushed and shook the image away, willing her face to cool down. She looked up and saw him looking at her over the back of the chair. He raised a hand in greeting. "Yo."

_Ack! _Did he see her blush? "Hey Kakashi-sensei…Um…Why are you here?"

He hopped off the chair and wandered in her direction. "Hokage summons," he said as he pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket.

"What? A mission? I'm not supposed to be going on missions! I'm on the research track!"

Kakashi's face remained pleasantly blank. "Take it up with Hokage-sama. I don't know what this about, yet. Let's go."

"Wait! I've gotta go check-"

"Let's go." He turned to walk out the door. Sakura grumbled and followed after him. She knew that arguing with him wouldn't avail to much. It had always been that way.

The Hospital wasn't far from Hokage tower, so the trip wasn't going to be short. They walked in silence for a moment before Sakura could stand it no more. Where was that comfortable feeling she had before?

"How's the hand?"

"Hm?" He raised it up and looked at it. "Oh, no more pain, thanks." Kakashi gave her the typical Kakashi eye crease.

"Ah… Good."

The air turned silent again as they walked again. Sakura glanced up at Kakashi and memories of his bare face came back to her. She narrowed her eyes slightly and tried to see his face through the mask. She followed his nose down over its long slope towards his lips. She tried to imagine his mouth again, but was having trouble even as it turned towards her. She could kind of see the shape of the lips, but-

"See something interesting?"

Sakura blinked and realized she was staring at Kakashi's lips and he had seen her. She felt her face heat up and turned away quickly.

"No! Sorry!"

Kakashi just let out a low chuckle and kept walking. "If you say so," he said plainly.

Sakura willed her face to cool down and turned her eyes to the ground as she followed.

There was a soft knock at the door and Tsunade barked, "Come in!" The door creaked as it opened and in stepped Kakashi and Sakura. Kakashi raised a hand in greeting and Sakura gave a fake smile. _I knew she wouldn't be happy._ Tsunade sighed, "Good. You're here." She gestured to the door and Kakashi closed it. "I have a mission for you two."

Immediately Sakura started to argue, "But I'm not supposed to be going on-" She stopped suddenly as Tsunade slammed a sake cup down on her desk particularly hard.

"I know that! The village is in a shortage of missions right now and I wouldn't pull you out of the hospital unless we actually needed the money, okay?!"

Sakura's posture deflated. "Sorry, Shishou."

Tsunade gave her a warning glare before continuing begrudgingly, "This mission is total bullshit and it should have been a C-rank, but the problem is that the new Daimyo of Stone country specifically requested you, Kakashi."

Kakashi raised his brows slightly. "Oh?"

"Yes. Seems he's a Shinobi aficionado and well, you know…" She made a vague hand gesture in the air. "He's traveling to Cloud Country along with some other officials and wants to show off. And he's been known to be frail, which is where you come in, Sakura. He's paranoid and wants the best we can offer in the way of Med-nins. And since your superiors have to stay here, you get to go. Everybody understand?" The two gave short nods. "Good. They're leaving the day after tomorrow, so I suggest you get there tomorrow night. Kakashi, you're team leader, here's the scroll with details," she said as she tossed the scroll over her shoulder lazily.

Kakashi caught it with equal laziness. "Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Wait, just a two-man team?" Sakura interjected.

"Yes, I've already lost two ninjas to a stupid mission, I don't want to waste anymore. Now get lost, I have stuff to do."

The two bowed and walked out of the office.

Once outside, with the door closed, Kakashi opened the scroll and looked through it quickly, Sakura watching him all the while. "Looks pretty standard. Like the stuff we used to do when you were a Genin," he said, giving her an eye crease. She offered a small smile and nod in return. He continued, "We'll leave around seven AM tomorrow. Bring your basic gear and whatever medical gear you think you'll need. See you then." He gave a small wave and walked off towards the center of town.

Sakura watched him walk off and frowned to herself. "This is going to be weird," she muttered to herself and began her walk back to the hospital.


End file.
